


Listened To You Talk All Night

by zahnie



Series: The Sister Job [1]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Eliot Has a Sibling, Movie Night, Movie Reference, Multi, Pre-OT3, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 02, The Princess Bride References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 19:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4637040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zahnie/pseuds/zahnie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot and Parker have never seen The Princess Bride. Hardison insists on a movie night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listened To You Talk All Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Adelaide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adelaide/gifts).



> So in Leverage 2x03 "The Order 23 Job", when Eliot isn't responding on his com, Hardison says, “…You think you can just ignore me, like I don’t have any feelings. Like I never sat there, never listened to you talk all night about tryin'…” and then he never finishes the sentence. There is no explanation, ever, so I wrote one.
> 
> Set between 2x01 "The Beantown Bailout Job" and 2x02 "The Tap-Out Job".
> 
> For Adelaide because they said please write it. Twice.

Tragically, neither Eliot nor Parker have seen _The Princess Bride_. Not even once. Alec intends to fix that.

“Like, there’s not participating in the zeitgeist and then there’s just plain not participating in _life_ , man,” Alec says. Mostly to himself; it’s not like the other two listen to him much anyway.

“Hardison, put on the damn movie.” Eliot is sitting on the couch, all tense like Alec’s going to start the briefing for a job or something. Which is dumb because it’s not like Eliot has never been here before.

“Is the zeitgeist a kind of movie?” Parker asks. She’s wandering around the room, eating from the enormous bowl of popcorn Alec made.

“No,” Alec waves his hands. “It’s the current trends or whatever.”

Parker nods, chewing thoughtfully.

Eliot sighs and pushes back his hair.

Alec goes and sits on the couch. There’s a whole cushion between them but Eliot still leans away. “You do _not_ look excited about this,” Alec says, pretending not to notice. “It’s a quality movie, I swear.”

Eliot looks skeptical.

Before he can say anything, Parker vaults over the back of the couch and lands between them. She doesn’t spill a single kernel. “Ready!” she says, happily. Alec told her earlier that there are both criminals and heights in the movie, so she’s completely on board.

“Parker,” Eliot says, without force, when she puts her feet up on Alec’s coffee table.

“It’s fine,” Alec says.

Eliot still nudges Parker’s knee with his before leaning back. She makes a face and curls her feet under herself, both arms wrapped around the popcorn bowl.

Alec grins at the cuteness and turns the movie on.

The beginning is good and he can tell they both like it. Parker tends to talk through movies she doesn’t like and she’s being pretty quiet. Eliot actually almost smiles at the ‘as you wish’ part.

Parker does object to Fezzik’s climbing technique, however. “Why wouldn’t he use his legs? Legs are good for climbing!” When Dread Pirate Roberts starts climbing, she nods approvingly. “Like that!”

Both of them like the fencing scene.

“Could you do that?” Parker asks Eliot.

He shrugs. “I’d probably just throw a rock at him instead.”

“But you can fence, right?” Alec asks.

Eliot glares at him. “When the hell would I learn to fence? Nobody _fences_ , Hardison. It’s not a thing.”

They argue about it for a bit until Parker throws popcorn at both of them.

One thing Alec had completely forgotten about was the torture parts of the movie. Eliot’s face gets stiller and stiller as the scene goes on.

“I… I can skip this part,” Alec says, hesitantly.

“Shhh,” says Parker.

Eliot just shakes his head.

The rest of the movie goes better, especially after Westley is brought back to life. Parker laughs at the con they use to get in the gate.

As the credits are rolling, Alec gets up to go to the bathroom. When he comes back, Parker is curled up in the corner of the couch where he was sitting, apparently asleep. Eliot’s putting a blanket over her and Alec stands in the doorway for a second, watching.

Eliot turns around. “What?” he says, quiet but gruff.

Alec shrugs. “It’s fine,” he says, walking over.

“I should get going,” Eliot says. He doesn’t look like he wants to leave.

“Hey,” Alec says, impulsively, “It’s early. I still have some of that beer you brought over last time.”

It isn’t early, it’s nearly midnight.

“Okay,” says Eliot.

They both go to the kitchen and Eliot snorts when he opens the fridge. “Why do you never have any actual food?”

Alec looks into the fridge. It’s mostly orange soda, sure, but there are totally some vegetables and eggs in the back. “Are you hungry or something?”

“No, just- nevermind.” Eliot grabs two beers and closes the fridge.

They sit at the table, to avoid waking Parker.

“Sooo…” Alec says, “How come you’re so tense today?”

Eliot sighs and opens his beer. He tosses the bottle opener to Alec, who actually catches it, go him.

Alec opens his own beer and waits.

Eliot takes a long swig before answering. “It’s nothing.”

“Uh huh,” Alec says, “C’mon, man. Spill.”

“It’s weird being back,” Eliot says.

Alec thinks about that. Eliot’s right. The team separated for six months after The Two Davids Job and they’d only been back together for a couple weeks. Nate’s off meeting a potential client in Wyoming or something so they’ll probably have another job soon.

Eliot hadn’t really talked about what he’d done when they were apart. Sure, he _said_ he was in Pakistan but Alec really had been reading the White House emails and he is pretty sure Eliot hadn’t been there.

“Nothing’s really changed,” Alec says.

Eliot laughs. “Nate stopped drinking, Sophie’s sworn off acting, and Parker got bored stealing the Hope Diamond.”

Alec nods. “And you?”

“Oh, I’m always the same,” Eliot says. Is that bitterness in his voice?

Alec doesn’t know what to say, so he just drinks his beer and gives Eliot some space.

Finally, Eliot says, “I’ve been tryin’ to find someone.” His voice is almost hoarse, like he doesn’t want to say anything.

“Yeah?” Alec says, when the silence gets too long.

“Yeah,” Eliot says.

“You want help?” Alec asks. It really sounds like Eliot doesn’t want to tell him this so needing help is the only reason he’d make himself do it.

Eliot sighs and meets Alec’s eyes. “Yeah. I really do.”

“You got a name?” Alec asks. Cause he isn’t going to ask why.

“Not really,” Eliot says. “She- I’ve been tryin’ with her legal name. Well, her legal name when-” He cuts himself off and puts his hands flat on the table. “She’s my sister.”

Alec can’t help the way his eyes widen. Eliot _never_ talks about his family. Ever.

Eliot doesn’t look at him as he goes on. “She ran away right before I joined up. She was 16.” He takes a deep breath. “It’s been a long time, I know.”

“I’ll do my best,” Alec says.

“She doesn’t want to be found,” Eliot says, fast. “I get it. I’ve been there. But I just. I wanna make sure she’s okay. Give her some money. Anonymously, maybe.”

Alec nods. “Tell me what you’ve tried so far.”

So Eliot does. He tells Alec about the initial police search, about how the cops really did try to find her. He tells how he couldn’t look after Basic. He tells how he looked after getting out of the army but he had to hide, and how he tried again after their first job as a team when he ‘could finally offer her something’.

He also tells Alec her name: Hannah. And her birth date and her dream of becoming an astronaut and a dozen other things. Alec learns more about Eliot that night than he’s learned in the last year and more.

Eliot stops talking as the new day is dawning. Alec stares at the clock. If someone told him yesterday that Eliot Spencer would talk about anything other than food or fighting styles for six hours, he would have laughed.

Hands on his shoulders make Alec jump. It’s Parker, hair all mussed from sleeping on the couch. “Good movie,” she says, smiling.

“Thanks,” he says.

Parker wanders over to Eliot and pokes him in the arm. “Will you make breakfast?” she asks.

“Yeah!” says Alec, because Eliot’s breakfasts are amazing and cooking makes Eliot happy.

Eliot grumbles and gets up.

Alec is pretty sure he hears Eliot mutter, “As you wish,” as he walks into Alec’s kitchen.

Parker grins at him. “We should have all-night movie nights more often,” she says.

Alec yawns. “Sure thing, girl. Whatever you want.” He stands up and cracks the stiffness out of his shoulders. “Eliot, do you need anything from the store? I’m gonna go get coffee.”

Eliot calls back, “I’ll make you some damn coffee, go sit down.”

Alec yawns again and goes over to one of his computers. He can get a bit of preliminary searching done while breakfast is cooking.

 


End file.
